Pat Corlett was contacted on the social networking site by Chris Haworth, 36, the child she last saw when he was just six days old.
The 54-year-old from Liverpool opened a message on her computer that began: "Hi, my name is Chris, I was born on 22nd June 1975. You may not want to reply to this..."
Call it mother's instinct, Pat knew instantly it had been sent by Chris, or David as she has named him at birth.
Pat, who works as a courier for Probation Services, discovered that Chris - who kept his birth name as a middle name - worked as a coach driver and had enjoyed a happy childhood in the Lakes after being adopted.
“It was like a bomb going off, but a nice bomb,” she said.
“I always said I’d never trace him, that it might be too disruptive for him or upsetting, but I often wondered whether he would try to find me.
“The answer came via that message on Facebook and it was overwhelming.” And the arrival back in her life of her first-born has special resonance for Pat.
Eight years ago her youngest boy, Michael – she has another son, Andrew, who is now 18 – died at the age of just seven after losing a battle with cancer.
“Chris coming back in our lives is like the rounding off of a story. He can never replace Michael, of course, but to have him with us is a real happy ending.”
Pat became pregnant with Chris when she was 18. "I was in a relationship that I thought would work out," she explained.
She soon split with her boyfriend and never told him about the baby.
"I was facing being on my own with a child and it was daunting," she said. 'Back then, in 1975, single mothers were viewed very differently to how they are now; there was a stigma.
"Plus, I just didn't know how I would be able to work and look after a baby," Pat admitted. "I was brought up in Liverpool as an only child in an all-female household with my mum and my great aunt who held a lot of Victorian views and values."
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